The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 63

The Cincinnati Enquirer MUSIC Sunday, March 1995 F5 "in What sells a symphony orchestra? What is an orchestra's biggest appeal: conductor, programming, soloist or orchestra itself? 2yrjM iiriHinuiiiHnHii fci "People go to the symphony "to hear the orchestra. Certainly the program, soloist, conductor, all have something to do with it. But it's their pride in the orchestra, their love of the orchestra, their intrigue of the orchestra, or that they feel part of the symphony 5 MMk 1 ia.UJJ Will in! encn Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops conductor Kunzel come to Cincinnati, there would be an immediate sellout." Sedgwick Clark, Gramophone Magazine, Musical America. "It's really a mixture. You never know what's going to cook with every community.

In Cleveland, part of the drama is music director Christoph von Dohnanyi, a fabulous old-world, patrician, elegant conductor. In St. Louis, Leonard Slatkin has the opposite approach. He goes to the baseball games, or he'll visit a rock 'n' roll station and talk about music. Both are very different." Tim Page, executive producer Catalyst Records, critic New York Newsday "After a while the conductor does become taken for granted and becomes a part of the unit.

When you're selling tickets, it's a combination of program and guest artist." Judith Arron, executive director, Carnegie Hall Lyl i "It's got to be the conductor, because he is the image of the orchestra. Without him, everything else flounders. They have no image. You have to have a single figure who personifies quality, musicality and things people look for when they go to a concert." Jack Pfeiffer, executive producer, RCA Records "People go to hear soloists and eminent conductors. I'll bet if (Sir Georg) Solti were to Associated Press file photo The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra plays to an educated Viennese audience in January.

CONTINUED FROM F4 11,000 to 17,000 subscribers. The conductor creates the mystique. "There's no question. A baseball team can be a good team, but the one star, a great hitter or great pitcher, packs them in. It's the star system," Mack said.

When Schippers died of cancer in 1977, the CSO was thrown into turmoil for three years. In 1979, musicians wrote an unprecedented letter to the board of directors, concerned that its stature was sinking. During that time, the CSO board failed to hire music director candidates Leonard Slatkin and Michael Tilson-Thomas. Gielen came from Germany in 1980. Gielen, a disciplinarian with a legendary ear, was embraced by national critics, but his steady diet of modern music was unpopular at home.

Subscriptions plummeted. Nevertheless, he gave the orchestra a respected image. "Gielen got a sound out of the orchestra that is probably the most ravishing string sound I've ever heard," Clark said. Lopez-Cobos, a respected musician with a solid European reputation, is rarely mentioned in music press, said New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn. "Occasionally a recording will come up," Kozinn said.

"But when you start talking about great conductors, it's (Claudio) Abbado, (Sir Georg) Solti and (Riccardo) Muti; Lopez-Cobos never really turns up on the radar screen." "We live in a time in which central-European-style conductors are everywhere. They are not as flashy as (Zubin) Mehtas and (Esa-Pekka) Salonens," said John Rockwell, festival director for Lincoln Center and a former New York Times' arts correspondent. Flash putting the thrill back into the classical music experience is what the CSO needs. In a savvy marketing move, even the staid Boston Pops Orchestra demonstrated that charisma is nearly as important as talent by hiring the unknown rising-star conductor, the CSO's Keith Lockhart. Off the podium Off the podium, an orchestra needs exposure via recordings, radio broadcasts and concert tours.

Compared to other major orchestras, Cincinnati's efforts are weak. The CSO records two classical discs per year. While Kunzel and the Pops have 50 discs on the market that often top Billboard's classical crossover charts, the CSO The orchestra must reclaim its world-class status at home as well as around the country. How do you do that? Kunzel believes the solution is simple. "Do very intriguing, interesting, wonderful programs, and present them in an original way." Audiences respond to innovative programming.

But the CSO recycles the classical "top 40" and rarely performs the best of today's music, such as Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No. 3. "It all boils down to repertoire that's where it's at," Corbett said. "They could certainly help themselves with repertoire they've got to stay au courant to keep on top of things." Conductors such as Los Angeles Philharmonic's Esa-Pekka Salonen are establishing younger audiences while maintaining a commitment to 20th century repertory. Salonen, writes The New York Times' Alex Ross, provides "the kind of decisive regional leadership American orchestras most need right now." More self promotion That new and improved product must then be marketed.

In Cincinnati this season, 22 composers donated birthday fanfares for the CSO's centennial season a move that would generally garner national press, but it has received scant notice. "It's important that there's a publicity department that knows how to market it," Kunzel said. Rockwell agrees. "If (the CSO's) reputation has slipped, it's because its self-promotional energies have slipped." Only six U.S. orchestras surpass the CSO's $23 million operating budget, said Sandra Hyslop, American Symphony Orchestra League marketing director.

Yet its promotion budget $335,000 goes to marketing and $80,000 to telemarketing is a fraction of what other orchestras spend to promote themselves. The Cleveland Orchestra's net budget for advertising is about Detroit spends about $1.1 million. The bottom line for a bright future said Catherine French, executive director of ASOL, is whether or not an orchestra is "doing what is necessary to make itself indispensable to its community. Something like a centennial is a wonderful opportunity to remind a community of what a( treasure they've got." has 16. Thirteen were recorded under Lopez-Cobos' direction.

None has been nominated for a Grammy and none has been a top seller on national charts. That is a dismal showing when measured against the recordings of other major American orchestras: Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony have 72 recordings on the market, earning the orchestra 50 Grammy nominations in 16 years, and four Grammy Awards. St. Louis' five-year contract with BMG Classics calls for 40 discs with Slatkin.

The Detroit Symphony has 25 discs available, and another 30 projected on Chandos with maestro Neeme Jarvi, who began his fifth season in September. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of America's most-recorded orchestras, with 150 recordings, including re-releases, on the market. Maestro Christoph von Dohnanyi has an exclusive contract on London Records and records 6-8 discs per year. National radio and television broadcasts offer more exposure. Cincinnati concerts are not picked up nationally on radio.

They are aird only locally on WGUC (90.9 MHz) by an average listeners, estimates WGUC general manager Ann Santen. However, St. Louis Symphony concerts are broadcast nationally over National Public Radio (NPR) every week of the year. The De troit Symphony is heard on 540 stations in 49 states. Cleveland's concerts are broadcast to 400 stations in 50 states.

The Atlanta Symphony's 50th anniversary concert will be telecast March 27 nationally on PBS. Limited touring Concert tours promote record sales, boost morale and hone skills. Touring keeps an orchestra competitive with the world's greatest orchestras. "It has an effect on our constant striving for the highest standards of quality," said Cleveland Orchestra's marketing director, Gary Hanson. The CSO's touring record in recent decades has been spotty.

Touring is costly, especially when it involves per diems and air fares. Sponsors must be procured or touring is unaffordable. Since 1917, the CSO has performed regularly in New York's Carnegie Hall, but American tours are limited. After playing Carnegie this month, it will travel to Florida for the second time in 10 years. The orchestra toured the Far East in 1990 and Southern California and Las Vegas in 1992.

Its recent 29-day tour to the Canary Islands, Switzerland, Germany and Vienna was the first in 25 years. Commitment to quality The CSO is made up of terrific musichns, who can perform as well as the best in the world. But if it is to again become one of America's pre-eminent orchestras, it will take a world-view artistic vision on the part of CSO management and its board. Cleveland's Hanson said it will take a board that exhibits "leadership and commitment to quality above all else." CSO executive director Steven Monder described the situation as a balancing act, saying the orchestra's two primary issues are quality of the product and money. "In recent years, our critical financial situation was our focus We are out of debt the challenge is to stay out." In terms of artistic decisions, the orchestra is not "going to be cutting edge," he said.

"We spend the majority of our time seeking financing, and in recent years, ways to shrink and be more efficient. We try to minimize the artistic risks because we're trying to generate as much revenue as possible through the box office." When it was announced in 1992 the CSO had an $8.4 million accumulated deficit, musicians took a temporary pay cut. The books were balanced with endowment monies, a matching grant from the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts and donations from patrons and the community. The board, composed of fewer music-loving arts patrons than 20 years ago, shows leadership in fund-raising, but needs to increase its enthusiasm for the orchestra and focus on its artistic mission. "When you change a board into business people whose money you need, but who don't have the same enthusiasm for the orchestra, it changes the whole feeling of the orchestra and reflects negatively upon the musicians, the volunteer organization and the community," said a former board member who wished not to be named.

"What is lacking now is leadership." 21st century agenda Artistic leadership means setting a clear direction, an agenda, not only for quality of the product, but to restore the excitement, the euphoria of the past and to build an audience for the 21st century. Without an artistic plan to complement a business plan, the orchestra's future is at risk. Should it find a way to involve the community? Should it revolutionize the way it programs and presents concerts? Should it launch an aggressive marketing campaign? What is needed are big ideas that make an impact and point the orchestra forward. The orchestra must win back its audience by making exciting music, increasing its visibility on the air and on tour, rejuvenating its volunteers and marketing its successes. 5 This Sunday Night rft This Friday Night 8:30 til 12:30 am 8 pm til midnight iT? holidayinn HOLIDAY INN 42 275 V- fJ "ST PATTTS PARTY" Over 600 of Cincinnati's Finest Singles attend weekly Sponsored by Solo Singles, Inc.

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